SureAI

When I install Nehrim the installer for some reason does not create its own Oblivion.exe in the Nehrim directory. I am not running Oblivion on steam and I followed the readme instructions by not putting my Nehrim folder in the "Program Folders." I've tried reinstalling multiple times, but it just doesn't seem to work and I keep running into the same issue

Just copy and paste the Oblivion.exe manually. I dont know if there are other files missing though.

I tried that, but when i click start I get an error saying i'm missing blinkw32.dll

copy it too. in fact, go to your oblivion directory, select every file in it (exclude the folders, just the files) and copy paste them into the nehrim folder.

Although, I am concerned that if it is missing files then something is amiss. And your install did not proceed correctly and you might have a bad experience actually trying to run the game.
Try uninstalling nehrim and then installing it again.

I have a question, in what folder did you install oblivion? (not nehrim, the original oblivion). What OS are you using? is UAC on? are you an administrator?

this is the second guy I see who has this problem. How about making an installer where there is a page saying "please locate your oblivion installation directory" and "it has been detected to be in the following directory, if this is correct press next. if not, change it to the correct folder and press next"
And it starts out with the detected folder inputted. My guess is that some people have a weird install (maybe GOTY, maybe steam, maybe god knows what) which causes it to fail to detect the install folder, so it uses the default location, finds no files, and fails to copy them over.

Using Win 7. I am admin and UAC is on. The thing is I installed Oblivion into a new directory and not the default folder that the GOTY version creates during the installation process. I did think about the possibility of the Nehrim installer not picking up on the right folder, but I have no idea how to fix that problem. I haven't tried copying all the files from the oblivion folder yet, but i'll try that next and post my results.

it wouldn't be enough, it needs some specific files from the data subfolder.

is your windows 32bit or 64bit (I doubt it matters, i just want to know).
Thanks for clarifying about it being GOTY, what specific directory did you install it into, as in C:\Games\Oblivion

64 bit

The directory for oblivion is C:\Program Files (x86)\Oblivion

I have two guesses here:
1. Installers are REALLY really bad at handling the () part of the file path. MS implemented it in a real bad hodge podgy way. and really, it was absolutely unnecessary to begin with, there is no reason you cannot install both 32bit and 64bit programs into C:\program files\ So maybe having it in that directory it messing up the installer.
2. windows vista and win7 have introduced very severe limitations on what programs can do to files in program files directory as a "security measure"... this is why google chrome simply says "to heck with that" and installs into your AppData directory instead .
There is a good chance that just being in there is messing it up. Windows thinks "oh my god, nehrim install is modifying program files, it must be a virus, lets block it". and it does.
Disabling UAC can also help. My brother on win7x64 could not save files from a browser (IE, firefox, or chrome) into his program files directory (he wanted to download an installer there, but afterwards we just tried to save a jpg file). He had to disable UAC before being allowed to save a file there from within a browser.

My recommendation is that you uninstall oblivion, then install it into C:\Games\Oblivion
then install Nehrim into C:\Games\Nehrim
In fact, NEVER install a game into program files, all games should be installed into a custom directory such as <drive letter>:\Games\<game name>

I read the post by one of the admins and copied the files that he suggested and everything works now.

But some of the wood object textures are completely black

btw thanks for all the help guys